Mario Sprouse

Mario E. Sprouse has been active in music, theatre, and film for over fifty years.

Since 1991, he has served as the Arts Ministry Coordinator for the historic Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, and has been Associate Director for Marble Vision, the media ministry of Marble, since 1996. He is the author of Precious & Honored – a Spiritual Handbook for Artists.

Sprouse was the Music Supervisor for three films of the late Gordon Parks, for whom he was the musical assistant for over twenty years. He has provided musical arrangements for several short films and was the music supervisor, composer, and arranger for the documentary film Art Bastard, which chronicles the life of artist Bob Cenendella. He was musical director for a number of theatrical events, including Black Nativity – a Gospel Song Play and Lena Calhoun Horne – the Civil Rights Journey of a Negro Woman. In 2020, he received an Audelco Award for Outstanding Musical Direction for The Dark Star from Harlem – the Spectacular Rise of Josephine Baker. Carmen McRae, Hubert Laws, Cornell Dupree, Buster Williams, Freddie Hubbard, and Grover Washington, Jr. are some of the jazz artists who have recorded his musical arrangements. Orchestrations and original songs written by Sprouse have been performed live by Gregory Hines and Phylicia Rashaad.